Thousands of families entitled to reimbursement for care home fees

The NHS could owe families across Britain up to £10 million in retrospective care home fees, according to a Manchester-based solicitors.

Farley Dwek Solicitors believes that up to 100,000 people could be entitled to payouts but are being "bullied" by primary care trusts who are imposing "unenforceable and illegal" deadlines on claims.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Andrew Farley of Farley Dwek said that the company is currently investigating 250 claims but many people are being put off because they are wrongly told there is a 28-day deadline to make claims.

The cases relate to instances where families have paid care home fees for their relatives that should have been met by the NHS. In the UK, people with £23,000 or more in assets are required to meet the entire cost of their care, but if they would otherwise have been in hospital, the NHS cover the fees.

Mr Farley said: "Some elderly people have had to sell their homes to pay for their own care, when they should not have needed to."